Using Media

Published by: International Journal of Frontier Missions (27.3 July-Sept 2010)

"What we had failed to notice was that these nomads already had media players—their mobile phones! They were using them to listen to music and poetry as well as view videos. This realization changed our strategy, so we now start out by sharing individual Scripture stories on our phone during a visit, and then transfer it by Bluetooth to those who are interested."

This inspiring article encourages us to take advantage of the revolution in mobile phone technology to bring the message of Scripture to peoples around the world. The authors provide lots of examples of how mobile phones can be used.

For example: "When I walk out the door these days I’m blessed to have short selections of the audio panoramic Bible in the language of my people, as well as 40+ videos of Bible stories from creation to the crucifixion. In addition, I have numerous spiritual poems and musical Psalms ready and waiting in my pocket should the right opportunity arise. The great thing is that viewing and sharing photos, music, and videos on mobile phone is now so common among the people group I live among that whipping out my phone and sharing one of these video or audio files with them is completely natural!" [more...]

"We know that just because someone has a printed Bible doesn’t mean they will use it. After the novelty has worn off, how can we encourage people to go on listening and engaging with God’s Word with their audio player?"

In recent years we’ve seen the launch of a number of multi-purpose digital audio players, designed for contexts without easy access to electricity: such as the MegaVoice Ambassador, the Saber, the Papyrus and the Audibible. They can contain hours of audio Scripture, songs, teaching, Bible stories, or whatever audio content you choose.

Suppose you had 10 of them, or 100, or 1,000? What would you do with them? Not only would you need to decide what to put on them, but you would also need to think about how people will get hold of them and put them to use.

Theories and themes emerging from the World Wide Scripture Engagement Consultation

Author: Stephen Opie

"There is clear confusion among Christians about why they should read the Bible. For many, who have lived a Christian life without much engagement with the Bible, there is no perceived need to engage with it."

This paper, fruit of the recent WWSE Think Tank, seeks to engage with the 'Bible Engagement Crisis' in contexts where Bible availability is high but Bible use is relatively low. The focus is on the emerging generation who are less likely to use the Bible than the generations before them, especially using traditional methods.

After presenting the challenge, Stephen Opie outlines some of the strategic themes emerging, such as:

The Saber is a solid-state digital player with hand wind power. It enables people to listen to Scripture in areas without electricity.

It has an amplifier, speaker and sound box, so it can play at significant volume with good quality. This makes it ideal for use in groups. It handles speech and music equally well.

The Saber is powered from internal rechargeable batteries. A built in generator allows the machine to be recharged by turning the handle. External power sources, such as AC/DC power packs, solar panels, or batteries, can also be used to recharge the machine. [more...]

Deditos is a video Bible story series targeting children between the ages of 4 and 14. Considering the challenges faced by children throughout the two‐thirds world, the stories are carefully chosen to reveal God's character, his dealings with mankind, and his never‐ending desire that we draw closer to him.

Each episode includes:

the Bible story dramatized in roughly 23 minutes with real‐life fingers as actors, incorporating a song the kids can learn;

PDF files of five dynamic lessons based on the story, including print and audio versions of the teacher’s guide and pages with interactive activities for the children.

The complete Deditos series will include 21 stories with a major emphasis on the Old Testament. The videos are being produced originally in Spanish, in sets of three each year.

Blind and partially sighted people who cannot read standard print may use one or more accessible formats to read the Bible. Their choice may depend on the degree of sight loss, whether they are at home or in public, the amount of storage space available, how much they have to read and whether they are comfortable operating modern electronic equipment.

Torch provides an online listing of Bibles in accessible media available from a range of organisations. These include: audio, braille, e-reader, large print and online resources. [more...]